STAFF REPORT ISB: Pakistan is at the threshold of the latest world technology as it, being the associate member of CERN, has a rich opportunity to reap huge benefits the classified organization offers in terms of sharing experiences, knowledge and expertise of the worlds renowned scientists.

Pakistan was the first Asian state that had become the associate member of the CERN (European Organization of Nuclear Research) in 2015.

In fact, the membership of CERN is the recognition of the achievements of Pakistani scientists, engineers and technicians in their relevant areas of expertise.

The membership would allow Pakistani scientists to become members of the CERN staff, participate in CERNs training and career-development programmes and CERN Council. It would also allow Pakistani industry to bid for CERN contracts, opening opportunities for industrial collaboration in areas of advanced technology.

“The membership of Pakistan has opened a new era of cooperation that will strengthen long-term partnership between CERN and the Pakistani scientific community.

Pakistan and CERN had been collaborating since 1994, and have carried out a number of successful projects involving sophisticated technologies and precision engineering.

“CERN membership for Pakistan is a great honour for the whole nation. Apart from capacity building, it would open up Pakistans private and public sectors to bid for provision of precision equipment for CERN. It would raise Pakistans stature at international scientific scene as provider of precision equipment,” remarked Waqar Ahmad, Minister Technical at the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the IAEA, while commenting on the countrys access to the worlds top nuclear science organization.

The government of Pakistan considers it a matter of immense pride to have become an associate member of CERN.

Most recently, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the CERN premises situated at the Franco-Swiss border and heaped praise on Pakistans brilliant scientists and engineers who are building the countrys positive image abroad.

It was the first visit of a Pakistani head of government to the top scientific research organization.

He visited the CMS (Compact Muon S) – the largest particle collider in the world that was part of the 27 km-long Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – and witnessed the huge 14,000 tons heavy outer and inner shields built by the Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila.

CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti said that Pakistan had a long history of research in elementary particle physics and had produced renowned scientists in this field, including the Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.

The PM said the nation was proud of Dr Salam. “He was a great Pakistani, the pride of country who brought good name to Pakistan and we are proud of him,” Nawaz said.

Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory is one of Europes first joint ventures and now has 21 member states.

Pakistan and CERN signed a cooperation agreement in1994. The signature of several protocols followed this agreement, and Pakistan contributed to building the CMS and ATLAS experiments. Pakistan contributes today to the ALICE and CMS experiments are remarkable.

Pakistan has supplied equipment since 2003 to support CERN programmes. Pakistan Heavy Mechanical Complex-3 (HMC-3) won a CERN award for best industrial partner in 2006.The country is also involved in accelerator developments, making it an important partner for CERN. The LHC and CMS projects were also built in collaboration with the Pakistani scientists.

CERN, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. They use the worlds largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.